


Lonely In The Lobby

by anysin



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hospitals, Jimstan friendship, M/M, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 06:39:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14827280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anysin/pseuds/anysin
Summary: After leaving the Shack after summer, Stan disappears. Ford finds him.





	Lonely In The Lobby

In the end of the summer, it’s time for Stan to go.

“Promise you’ll keep in touch,” Ford says as Stan is carrying the little property that he has over to the Stanmobile. “Call me when you get to your motel.”

“Sure thing,” Stan says. He’s even smiling.

He doesn’t call.

After few days of silence, Ford calls the motel where Stan was supposed to be staying, feeling cold when he hears that Stan never arrived. It takes a call to Dipper and Mabel to figure out that Stan is still out there, still alive and well, just having changed his plans about where he’s going to stay. Dipper and Mabel are willing to rat out where he is, but Ford turns the offer down. If this is how Stan wants things to be, then Ford has to accept that.

Ford doesn’t accept it.

“Stan!” he shouts in the hospital lounge when he finally tracks his brother down, making Stan and the blond biker sitting next to him jump in their seats. He feels alarmed when he sees that Stan is covered in bruises and cuts, just as the biker is, but he tries to hide his concern; he can’t afford to forget why he’s angry with his brother.

“Stan,” he says again after he has walked over to Stan and his friend, keeping his voice down; they are in a hospital, after all. “Care to explain what you’re doing in this town?”

His brother has the nerve to sigh and roll his eyes at Ford before turning to his friend. “Do you mind-?”

“I’ll go sit over there,” the blond man says, starting to stand up. “You’ll come with me if they come fetch us?”

“Of course.” Stan reaches out to give the man’s arm a squeeze, and the man grabs his arm in return. Ford, unused to seeing Stan have so much camaraderie with other men, can only stare in amazement; when Stan catches onto it, he blushes. “Okay, Jimmy, beat it.”

Jimmy gives Ford a curious look before he heads to the back of the hospital lobby. Ford watches him go, not sitting down to the chair freed by Jimmy until he’s sure that the man has sat down, and that’s when he leans close to Stan.

“An explanation, Stan.”

“What? I’m just here to see a friend. With another friend. Ain’t no law against that.” Stan crosses his arms over his chest, looking away from him.

“Stan, please.” He wants to reach out and shake some sense into his brother, but he knows how bad it will look like. Also, Stan is quite badly bruised; shouldn’t he see a doctor, too? “You promised you’d call.”

“Technically-”

“You said ‘sure thing’, Stan, I remember! That’s a promise!” Ford falls silent when the people around him hush him, and from the corner of his eye he can see that Stan’s companion has stood up at the back of the lobby, getting ready to return. Stan notices this, too, turning towards the man - Jimmy, Ford reminds himself - to gesture him to sit down again, and after a while the man - Jimmy - does.

Ford is still fuming by the time Stan turns back to him, but the anger inside him fades a bit when he sees how tired Stan is looking, almost defeated.

“Of course I didn’t call you,” he says, corners of his mouth twitching as he tries not to grimace. “Do you really think I want to remind myself every day that you don’t want me around? I couldn’t do it, Ford. I couldn’t settle for a part-time relationship with you.” Stan tilts his head away, biting his lip. “I needed a clean break, Sixer. I thought this was the best way to do it.”

Stan falls silent after that, and Ford doesn’t know what to say. He thought that- he has to look away, his cheeks heating up with the shameful realization that he hadn’t thought about it at all. What he had thought about was getting his house and name and life back, expecting Stan to build a new life for himself somewhere else. He had assumed they would stay in contact for the sake of the younger Stan twins, because even if they weren’t good sons or brothers, they could at least be good great uncles. He had assumed that maybe over time, he and Stan would reach some kind of peace with each other.

He hadn’t even considered the idea that Stan, Stan would want to get rid of him. He had just expected Stan to remain part of his life no matter what, no matter how Stan felt about it himself.

“Too real?” Stan’s voice is almost soft as he says that; it makes Ford snort.

“I- didn’t think,” he says. It barely qualifies as an excuse, but Stan seems to accept it. They lapse into silence for a while, both of them turning to stare at the lobby clock.

“How long have you been here, Stan?” Ford is a little concerned; hasn’t anyone really taken a look at his brother yet, given that he’s obviously hurt?

“Not that long, twenty minutes maybe? Jimmy’s friend got pummeled pretty bad, we had to deal with some crooks.” Stan shrugs. “I think he should be okay though, he was conscious when we got here.”

“Well-” Ford cuts himself off. It’s probably for the best if he doesn’t start explaining how things can go awry very fast in emergency cases; he doesn’t want to upset Stan. “When will you see a doctor?” he asks instead.

“Me? Meh, I’m fine.” Stan gives a dismissive wave with his hand. “Jimmy and I just need to know that Guy is okay. It may take a while for us to hear anything about him though, so-”

“I will wait until you’re done, Stanley.”

Stan turns to Ford again, eyes wide. “Really?”

“Really.” Ford looks down at his hands, watching his own fingers lace together. “I think we can do better than this, Stan. Be better to each other.”

He expects Stan to mock him for that idea; he has underestimated his brother once again.

“I think so, too,” Stan says, voice soft with longing.

They sit there together, gratitude spreading into Ford’s chest. Things can still be fixed.


End file.
